Philip Poniz learned the hard way that a bank safe deposit box is not a secure place to store valuables. When he moved across the country, he needed a new place to store his collection of expensive, rare watches. Philip had been collecting watches since he was a teenager. He had become an international expert in the history and restoration of high-end timepieces. He secured a safe deposit box in a reputable bank to protect his collection worth several million dollars. Over the years, Philip went to his safe deposit box to check on his collection many times without any problems.
Then one day he opened his box to find it empty. After much investigation, Philip learned that the bank had mistaken his box for someone else’s box who had failed to pay their fees. In accordance with bank policy the box was opened, and the contents sent to general storage. When they learned of their error, the bank returned the watches they still had to Philip, but several watches were lost forever. Bank policy limited their responsibility to just a few thousand dollars; a small fraction of Philip’s loss. The moral of the story is that we should be extra careful with whom we trust our most valuable possessions.
When we are looking for someone to guard what is precious to us, we require them to be both honest and competent, willing and able to fulfill their promise. Perhaps our most important treasure is our future. We can endure anything for a little while when we have hope that whatever we’re suffering will be worth the pain and sacrifice in the end for ourselves and those we love. We must trust our future to someone. Not finding someone trustworthy to safeguard our future is essentially just trusting in our own strength and wisdom. We may do OK on our own when life is going well. But there are times when we must call in experts to dealing with something that’s way bigger than we can handle, for example a life-threatening illness, a major lawsuit, or storm damage to our home. In those moments, we need to know the character, abilities, history, and reputation of who is planning and controlling our future so we can know if they are worthy of our trust.
When we consider if God is ultimately trustworthy to safeguard our future, what is God’s character and abilities? What is God’s history and reputation when others have entrusted their futures to Him? Abraham left his home and traveled to a faraway land at God’s command. Job continued to trust God even after he lost everything and everyone that mattered to him. William Tyndale, best known for his translation of the Bible into English, was martyred for his faith. Jim Elliot was a missionary killed while attempting to evangelize in Ecuador. The world was not worthy of the faithful men and women who suffered for their desire to live a godly life. But in the end, their faith was richly rewarded.
And of course, Jesus gave up everything to bear the sins of His people on the cross, trusting and obeying His Father’s will for His life. The witness of the saints is that trusting God has always been worth it in the end, and their experiences give us confidence in the promises God made in His Word. Here are a few examples. Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory. (2 Corinthians 4, all ESV) Entrust your efforts to the LORD, and your plans will succeed. (Proverbs 16) And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (1 Peter 5) Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. (Psalm 34) For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for peace and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29) These and many more promises remind us of the hope and blessings awaiting us if we trust in Jesus to completely safeguard everything that is truly important and precious to us.